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Bara Pole ExpeditionCoorg district, Karnataka, South India29/10/2006 to 03/11/2006 |
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We where lucky enough to be able to run a small exploratory expedition on the lower Bara Pole river. This section of river starts of nice but then quickly gets steeper and steeper. We made a days rafting into the gorge until we came to the first un-raftable drop, a dangerous waterfall of four meters. The plan was to camp the night and then using ropes with climbing and canyoning techniques to get past the waterfall and carry on rafting. We were also well aware that further downstream where at least two more waterfalls of 6 and 40 meters respectively. We where well prepared for all of these technicalities but it was to be the unexpected that thwarted our progress. After dinner and a relatively pleasant stay on the rocks it was time for sleep. Normally the rains in this area are long over by October and the rivers are dropping. This year was an unusually heavy monsoon, and the rains carried on real late. It rained and rained and poured, and by the morning time the river had rosen about 80cm making the rapids of the previous day continuous and barely runnable and any thought of downstream progress just folly. Firstly sending two out to look for willing porters, the jungle here is very dense, progress difficult, direction confusing, and leeches by the hundred with the ever present worry of snakes and other dangerous animals. Five hours later they returned with six porters, we were so glad to see these guys, the two rafts with all the equipment for paddling camping cooking was a lot of stuff, especially the rafts through the thick vegetation. It turned out to be a very late night, but we all got a warm dry bed to sleep on. The trip was not a failure, it was a very interesting start to an obviously longer test of our skills.
Expedition members:
John Pollard
Prakash Kalimada
Bose Kunjangada
Suju Karthamada
Alok Chekkera
Chimma Ajjamada
Paul Baddeley
Branden Kaiser
Rana David